Green Beans with Butter and Bacon

Green Beans with Butter and Bacon
Printable Recipe
Serves 4-6 as a side

1 pound fresh green beans
4 slices of bacon
2 T. salted butter
Salt

Start by breaking the beans. Snap off the little tales at both ends of the bean. You can leave the bean whole (as pictured) or break them into bite-sized pieces. It’s up to you. Wash the beans in cold water. Place all of the beans in a medium sauce pan and cover completely with water. Add 2 slices of bacon to the beans and water and bring the pot to a boil. Simmer for 25-45 minutes, checking for doneness along the way.

While the beans are cooking, fry up the last 2 slices of bacon until very crisp. Allow the bacon to cool and chop it well, set aside. When the beans are cooked to your liking, discard the boiled bacon (or feed it to your 4 year-old) and drain. Put the beans on your serving dish, top with butter and the crumbed bacon and a heavy sprinkle of salt. Serve while pipin’ hot.

Notes:
This is a great way to spruce up canned and frozen green beans too.
Dirtying a pan for 2 slices of bacon is a shame. I normally fry a whole pound of bacon at a time and keep extras in the fridge for things like this. Just re-crisp the refrigerated bacon in the microwave.
The cooking time has a wide range. I have found that store-bought fresh green beans don’t cook as long as garden fresh green beans. Yours will vary too.